Uniswap receives Wells notice, founder vows to fight SEC to the end

Ethereum DEX leader Uniswap's founder Hayden Adams stated on Twitter that the SEC has issued a Wells Notice to Uniswap Labs, indicating potential legal action against them. Uniswap must now battle with the U.S. government agencies to protect the company and the industry, as DeFi is worth fighting for.

Today @Uniswap Labs received a Wells notice from the SEC.

I’m not surprised. Just annoyed, disappointed, and ready to fight.

I am confident that the products we offer are legal and that our work is on the right side of history. But it’s been clear for a while that rather than…

— hayden.eth 🦄 (@haydenzadams) April 10, 2024

The Wells Notice is a formal notification from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to defendants regarding the charges they intend to bring. Last March, the compliant exchange Coinbase also received a Wells Notice and initiated a long-standing litigation with the SEC.

Coinbase pushes back against SEC Wells Notice, Coinbase's Chief Legal Officer criticizes: Enforcement without regulatory guidance

Founder Hayden Adams stated: He is not surprised, just angry, disappointed, and ready to fight.

He believes the products offered by Uniswap are legitimate. However, the SEC has not been diligent in establishing clear, informed rules but has chosen to focus on attacking long-standing contributors like Uniswap and Coinbase, while letting bad actors like FTX slip away.

Although Adams admitted that when he first founded Uniswap, he did not envision reconstructing finance, the platform has become a thoroughly decentralized, fully automated on-chain market experiment. The volume processed by the Uniswap protocol has now exceeded $2 trillion, all accomplished by the Uniswap team based in their New York office.

Faced with the U.S. replacing regulation with enforcement, why does Uniswap choose to remain in the U.S.? Adam's answer is:

I believe blockchain is a very powerful technology. Like the internet, it will always exist. So someone needs to solve this problem, and it's best if it's us.

Therefore, Adams has decided that it is necessary to fight the U.S. government agencies to protect the company and the industry.

This battle will continue for several years, possibly escalating to the Supreme Court, leaving the future of fintech and the industry uncertain. If we unite, we can prevail.

I believe freedom is worth fighting for. I believe DeFi is worth fighting for.